The Tuileries, a major Parisian tourist attraction, is one of the greatest public gardens in the world. The Art of the Louvre’s Tuileries Garden brings Paris to Peachtree Street, with picturesque boxed holly trees on the piazza, sculpture drawn directly from the grounds of the Tuileries, Impressionist paintings, and a three screen video of a stroll through the garden.
Past Exhibition
The Art of the Louvre’s Tuileries Garden
November 3, 2013 – January 19, 2014
Nine Frogs from a Fountain (Neuf grenouilles de fontaine), ca. 1550-1610
Workshop of Bernard Palissy or Jean Sejourne
French, 1510-1590
Nine Frogs from a Fountain (Neuf grenouilles de fontaine), ca. 1550-1610
Glazed terracotta
Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Sculptures, section Histoire du Louvre, ENT 1989-23, ENT 1989-43 through ENT 1989-50
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NYQueen Catherine de’ Medici commissioned the potter and naturalist Bernard Palissy to create decorative elements for her garden, including fountains and a fanciful grotto, or artificial cave. Palissy went to great lengths to recreate features of the natural world in his work. The mold for these frogs was made by taking a live frog, soaked in vinegar or urine to sedate it, and setting it in clay.
Female Gargoyle Wearing a Lion Skin from the Façade of the Tuileries Palace Adjacent to the Garden (Gargouille féminine couverte d’une peau de lion, façade du palais des Tuileries [côté jardin]), Restored or remade in 1751 after a 1594 original
Louis-Claude Vassé
French, 1716-1772
Female Gargoyle Wearing a Lion Skin from the Façade of the Tuileries Palace Adjacent to the Garden (Gargouille féminine couverte d’une peau de lion, façade du palais des Tuileries [côté jardin]), Restored or remade in 1751 after a 1594 original
Stone
Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Sculptures, Dépôt du Musée National de la Renaissance à Ecouen, CL 18728
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NYDuring his reign, King Henry IV hired architects to complete the unfinished parts of the Tuileries palace and to expand on the original sixteenth century plan. This gargoyle was installed on the palace façade as part of that project. It served a functional as well as decorative purpose, carrying water away from the building with a spout. The gargoyle and other elements, weathered by years of exposure to the outdoors, were re-sculpted in the eighteenth century by Louis-Claude Vassé.
Procession of Louis XIV in front of the Tuileries Castle: October, the sign of the Scorpion (Promenade de Louis XIV en vue du château des Tuileries, Octobre, signe du scorpion), 1668-1680
After Charles Le Brun, Manufactured by Gobelins Royal Manufactory
French, 1619-1690
Procession of Louis XIV in front of the Tuileries Castle: October, the sign of the Scorpion (Promenade de Louis XIV en vue du château des Tuileries, Octobre, signe du scorpion), 1668-1680
Tapestry
Mobilier National, Paris, Collection de Louis XIV, GMTT 108/10
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NYDuring Louis XIV’s years at the Tuileries, he hosted many extravagant performances and celebrations. In this large tapestry, made by the Gobelins national manufactory after a design by court painter Charles Le Brun, the king’s procession can be seen weaving through the center of the composition, away from the grand Tuileries Palace. One in a series of twelve depicting the months of the year and the royal residences, this tapestry represents October, signified by the hanging scorpion medallion and the abundant harvest.
Hippomenes (Hippomène), 1712; Atalanta (Atalante), 1704
Guillaume Coustou the Elder
French, 1677-1746
Hippomenes (Hippomène), 1712
Marble
Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Sculptures, Collection de Louis XIV, MR 1810
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NYPierre Lepautre
French, 1659-1744
Atalanta (Atalante), 1704
Marble
Musée du Louvre, Paris, Département des Sculptures, Collection de Louis XIV, MR 1804
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NYThese sculptures, which were among many that were relocated to the Tuileries from other royal palaces in the eighteenth century, illustrate a classical myth. A virgin huntress, Atalanta stood resolutely against marriage, and declared that anyone who wanted to wed her would first have to beat her in a footrace. During the race, Hippomenes distracted Atalanta by throwing golden apples, thereby winning the contest and her hand.
The Ascent of Charles and Robert in the Tuileries Garden on December 1, 1783 (Ascension de Charles et Robert, dans le jardin des Tuileries, 1er décembre 1783), Late 18th century
Unknown Artist
The Ascent of Charles and Robert in the Tuileries Garden on December 1, 1783 (Ascension de Charles et Robert, dans le jardin des Tuileries, 1er décembre 1783), Late 18th century
Oil on canvas
Musée Carnavalet, Paris, gift from M. Klotz, 1904, P 484
© RMN-Grand Palais / Art Resource, NYAt the time this painting was executed in the late eighteenth century, the Tuileries Garden was open to a much broader swath of the public than in years past. It was the site of expositions, performances, and displays of the latest technology, as shown here. In 1783, inventors Jacques Charles and Nicolas-Louis Robert embarked on the first ever manned hydrogen balloon flight in front of an enormous crowd in the Tuileries. Benjamin Franklin was among the awed onlookers.
Children in the Tuileries Garden (Enfants au jardin des Tuileries), ca. 1860
Édouard Manet
French, 1832–1883
Children in the Tuileries Garden (Enfants au jardin des Tuileries), ca. 1860
Oil on canvas
Museum of Art Rhode Island School of Design, Museum Appropriation Fund, 42.19Édouard Manet frequently visited the Tuileries Garden and observed the bustle of modern life that took place there. This delightful work is probably a preparation for his larger painting Music in the Tuileries. The Garden was a popular place for children and their nannies to pass the afternoon. With an impressive economy of brushstrokes, Manet captured the details of the clothing of upper-class children, and the playful spirit of their games.
The Tuileries Garden on a Winter Afternoon (Le Jardin des Tuileries un après-midi d’hiver), 1899
Camille Pissarro
French, 1830–1903
The Tuileries Garden on a Winter Afternoon (Le Jardin des Tuileries un après-midi d’hiver), 1899
Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, gift from the Collection of Marshall Field III, 1979, 1979.414
Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NYAt the turn of the century, Camille Pissarro rented an apartment on the Rue de Rivoli in Paris, directly across from the Tuileries, and he painted scenes of the garden thirty-one times. This painting is one of six featuring the steeples of the Church of Sainte-Clotilde piercing the sky. By revisiting the same scene over and over, Pissarro could carefully document the subtle changes in atmosphere and weather.
Mediterranean or Latin Thought/Contemplation (Méditerranée ou Pensée latine), 1923-1927
Aristide Maillol
French, 1861-1944
Mediterranean or Latin Thought/Contemplation (Méditerranée ou Pensée latine), 1923-1927
Bronze
Centre National des Arts Plastiques, Paris-La Défense, FNAC 9492
© 2013 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris.
Photo: Archive Timothy McCarthy / Art Resource, NYMaillol began work on this, his first major sculpture, in 1900, and continued to refine it for some time. In contrast to the artistic convention that female nudes should be allegorical or mythological in nature, Mediterranean represented a pure celebration of the female form. In the 1960s, France’s cultural minister, André Malraux, had eighteen of Maillol’s sculptures installed in the Tuileries Garden. Malraux declared Maillol the greatest sculptor of his age. Mediterranean comes to the High directly from its permanent location in the Garden.
An Alley in the Tuileries Garden (Une allée au jardin des Tuileries, en hiver, Paris 1969), 1975
Henri Cartier-Bresson
French, 1908-2004
An Alley in the Tuileries Garden (Une allée au jardin des Tuileries, en hiver, Paris 1969), 1975
Gelatin silver print
Musée Carnavalet, Paris, Ph 1806
© Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum PhotosThe Tuileries Garden has been a popular subject of photography since the invention of the medium. Photographers have carried that tradition into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Henri Cartier-Bresson, known as the father of street photography, spent many years in an apartment overlooking the Tuileries. The Garden appears as a frequent subject in his work. His images explore the life and landscape of the garden in compositions that play with effects of light, line, and repetition.
Overview
The Tuileries Garden lies at the heart of Paris, spanning the area between the Louvre and the Place de la Concorde. For centuries, it has served as a gathering place for Parisians and visitors.
Created at the behest of Queen Catherine de’ Medici, the garden initially accompanied the Tuileries Palace, which was destroyed in the 1871 uprising known as the Paris Commune. Originally, the garden was reserved exclusively for royalty, but starting in the late seventeenth century, it became increasingly accessible to the public.
Art has played a critical role in the history of the Tuileries Garden. The Garden has inspired generations of artists and has also functioned as an outdoor museum, with works from the classical to the contemporary dotting its vast grounds. This exhibition presents works by Camille Pissarro, Édouard Manet, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and others who have taken inspiration from the iconic Parisian landmark, as well as sculpture from the garden never before seen in the United States.
Le Nôtre
Of all the designers and gardeners whose work shaped the Tuileries, André Le Nôtre is perhaps the most responsible for the garden visitors experience today. Le Nôtre, who was employed as head gardener during the reign of King Louis XIV, would later gain fame for his work at Versailles, but his career began at the Tuileries. He was the third generation of his family to work on the garden and even spent his childhood on the grounds.
Le Nôtre transformed the garden from the closed Italian Renaissance design implemented under Catherine de’ Medici two centuries earlier. He used perspective and geometry to refashion the landscape, creating promenades, formal arrangements of trees called bosquets, and intricate patterns of plants and minerals. Just outside the garden, Le Nôtre planned a grand avenue that would become the iconic Champs Élysées.